GCHQ has legal immunity to reverse-engineer Kaspersky antivirus, crypto by Glyn Moody.
From the post:
Newly-published documents from the Snowden trove show GCHQ asking for and obtaining special permission to infringe on the copyright of software programs that it wished to reverse-engineer for the purpose of compromising them. GCHQ wanted a warrant that would give it indemnity against legal action from the companies owning the software in the unlikely event that they ever found out.
The legal justification for this permission is dubious. As the new report in The Intercept explains: “GCHQ obtained its warrant under section 5 of the 1994 Intelligence Services Act [ISA], which covers interference with property and ‘wireless telegraphy’ by the Security Service (MI5), Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) and GCHQ.” Significantly, Section 5 of the ISA does not mention interference in abstractions like copyright, but in 2005 the intelligence services commissioner approved the activity anyway.
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It is difficult to say if the de-legitimization of laws and government by intelligence agencies is a deliberate strategy or not.
Whether intended or not, it has become clear that no privacy right of citizens, the property rights of commercial entities and even the marketability of commercial software and services, have no meaning for the United States government.
Technology companies, enterprises of all types, citizens, etc., need to all unite to return government to its legitimate goals, one of which is respecting the rights of citizens, the property rights of enterprises, and the reputations of technology companies in the world wide market.
Of what use is a global market if US vendors are so distrusted, due to government interference with their products, that their market share dwindles?
GCHQ has availed itself of legal fictions much as the United States did with so-called torture memos. All involved should be aware that no regime reins forever.